Director, Trade Compliance

Firestorm is hiring a Trade Compliance Officer to own and lead our trade compliance program. As we move from prototypes to production, and from domestic programs to international partners, co-production, and a deployable manufacturing platform, export controls stop being a back-office function and become part of how we design, sell, build, and ship. You will make sure compliance moves at the speed of the business — and that the business never outruns compliance. Reporting to the General Counsel, you will be Firestorm’s senior trade compliance authority and the connective tissue between Engineering, Legal, Business Development, and Operations. You will make and document jurisdiction, classification, licensing, and screening determinations; set the compliance requirements for new programs, partnerships, and deals before they are signed; and hold the authority to pause a shipment, a technical data release, or a transaction until it is properly authorized. You will direct outside export counsel on novel or high-risk questions rather than rely on them for day-to-day answers. This is a builder’s role. The foundations exist; your job is to turn them into an Export Management and Compliance Program that scales — embedded in our engineering tools, our deal process, and our supply chain — and to build the team that runs it as we grow. We are looking for a seasoned practitioner who pairs deep ITAR/EAR expertise with business judgment: someone who can tell BD how to structure a foreign deal so it is licensable, tell Engineering what a design change does to a classification, and tell leadership plainly where the risk sits and what it will take to manage it. What You’ll Do Program Ownership & Leadership Own Firestorm’s Export Management and Compliance Program (EMCP) end to end — policies, procedures, internal controls, risk assessment, and continuous improvement — aligned with DDTC and BIS compliance program guidelines Serve as, or be positioned for designation as, Firestorm’s ITAR Empowered Official, with authority to sign license applications and to stop any export, release, or transaction that is not properly authorized Maintain Firestorm’s DDTC registration and serve as the company’s primary point of contact with DDTC, BIS, OFAC, and CBP Report program health, risks, and metrics to the General Counsel and executive leadership, and brief the Board as required Direct and manage outside export counsel and consultants; decide what is handled in-house and what warrants outside advice, and manage the associated budget Build and lead the trade compliance function over time, including hiring and developing a Trade Compliance Specialist as volume grows Cross-Functional Leadership Engineering & Product: Embed compliance into the product lifecycle — jurisdiction and classification reviews at design gates, configuration change control, technical data marking and segregation, and foreign person access to controlled data — so determinations stay current as products evolve and are updated before anything leaves the building Legal: Partner with the General Counsel on regulatory strategy, export-related contract terms (end-use/end-user certifications, flow-downs, re-export restrictions), partner and investor diligence, and any potential violation, investigation, or government inquiry Business Development: Engage at the earliest stage of international opportunities to assess export feasibility, licensing pathways (DCS vs. FMS, exemptions and license exceptions, TAAs/MLAs), and realistic timelines; shape proposal, teaming, and partnership structures so deals are licensable and close on schedule Operations & Supply Chain: Own export and import controls alongside Operations — item classifications in ERP, shipment authorization, EEI/AES filings, HTS and country-of-origin determinations, broker and freight forwarder oversight, and supplier flow-downs Security & IT: Partn…

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